A new era has perhaps arrived where companies can employ engineers for writing cheating software to deceive the customers, the regulatory bodies as well as the testing agencies.

“The cars’ computers were able to detect when they were being tested, and temporarily alter how their engines worked so they looked much cleaner than they actually were. When they weren’t being tested, they belched out 40 times the pollutants.“

I have heard that the Indian government took cognizance of this automobile scandal, and have promised to take appropriate steps to see whether the Volkswagen cars sold to the Indian customers are safe or not. Feel free to write in the comments section on Indian government’s action on the issue.

As the name suggests, acts of crimes perpetrated on the cyberspace – as opposed to the physical space — are known as cybercrimes. These crimes essentially make use of one or more electronic devices connected to the computer networks. Cybercrimes differ from the traditional or physical crimes in that, in the former the perpetrator need not come close to the victim physically to harm her, and that the execution of the crime is done entirely by means of interactions between electronic devices, where the criminal may be located thousands of miles away from the crime scene.

Yet another bombshell just came from the suspected NSA files smuggled by Edward Snowden. This time the NSA — a US government agency working under the department of defence — is purported to have been in close relationship with the telecom giant AT&T for the purpose of collecting data passing through their networks.

More fallout from the epidemic of data breaches that occurred in 2014: More than 6 million email accounts and credentials from around the globe have been leaked in the past three months, according to a new study.

Can’t connect: Connecting when “roaming” can be a struggle. If your flight has just landed, several hundred devices power on and try to connect to an overloaded network. On a train, users find it difficult to hold a conversation even when passing through areas with moderate cellular coverage. It’s the same on inter-state highways.

Network busy: You have a full signal, but can’t call – common in busy areas such as Delhi’s airport, Gurgaon’s Cyber City (an office area near Delhi), and elsewhere in India’s large metros. Many users keep retrying on auto-redial, which adds to the problem.

Call drops: When you, or the person you’re calling, are on the move, it’s common for the call to drop. Often, both of you will try re-dialing, and fail to connect. If one of you moved into an overloaded network area, you may not be able to reconnect easily.

No internet: Mobile data is patchy in India. 3G isn’t everywhere, but even where you get a strong 3G signal, you might find no data activity. This is a problem for a country with 240 million mobile internet subscribers – that’s 92% of its total internet subscriber base.

Poor signal: A weak mobile signal is common in urban India’s high-rise office and residential areas. The upscale condominium complex in Gurgaon where this writer lives has virtually no mobile service.